Graphic Novels are Life! Telling Your Own Story in a Graphic Novel with Dan Santat (5th - 8th Grade)
Tuesday, July 30th at 2:00 PM EDT
Join this year’s winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, Dan Santat, as he inspires tweens and teens to tell their own stories through graphic novels. His winning book, A First Time for Everything, is a graphic memoir based on his own awkward middle school years and the trip to Europe that changed his life.
Dan Santat began drawing as a young boy and although he first studied microbiology, he pursued his passion in illustration. He spent many hours as a child and teenager teaching himself to draw by copying illustrations from comic books until he developed the unique, recognizable style that we see today. His talk will inspire listeners to draw their own story as well as give them practical tips on the creation of graphic novels.
Your All Access Pass Behind the Scenes at the Space Station with Smithsonian Curator Dr. Jennifer Levasseur
Wednesday, August 7th at 2:00 PM EDT
You’re invited to virtually step inside one of the greatest international achievements with a behind-the-scenes guide to space exploration with the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum curator Dr. Jennifer Levasseur.
Revealing a new perspective into the world of space exploration and the daring astronauts who make it possible, Dr. Levasseur will guide you through the Smithsonian’s Behind the Scenes at the Space Station and take you on a once-in-a-lifetime virtual tour of the International Space Station.
You will learn what the astronauts do once they make it to the space station, from experiments to repairs and so much more! Have you ever wondered if plants could grow in outer space? Or how the space station doesn’t break down in outer space? Or how astronauts go to the toilet in microgravity?
Behind the Scenes at the Space Station is a treasure trove of information. Did you know that during a 24-hour period, the space station completes 16 orbits of Earth and the astronauts on board see 16 sunrises and sunsets every day? Or that the International Space Station is so enormous that it was launched in pieces and constructed in orbit?
Brimming with astonishing visuals, step-by-step explanations of everyday space work in action, and job profiles of the adventurous people who make it happen, Dr. Levasseur’s tour Behind the Scenes at the Space Station is the perfect way to spend an hour and experience life in space.
Register now for your all-access pass to a spectacular home in space!
The Golden Ticket to College Admissions Is Not What You Think: Redefining Success for Parents of Teens with Irena Smith, PhD
Thursday, August 15th at 2:00 PM EDT
Another college application season is around the corner, and stress is already beginning to ratchet up for teens and their parents. You’re invited to join us for this must-watch talk by Irena Smith, PhD. You will hear about constructive and healthy ways to approach the college application process, preserve your relationship with your teen, and help them define success on their terms instead of chasing the elusive “golden ticket.”
Irena is a former Stanford Admissions Officer who has spent 18 years advising accomplished, tightly-wound students in Palo Alto and around the world. She saw firsthand the extreme measures parents took to help their children gain admission to highly selective colleges and the toll it took on the children as well as on their parents.
At the same time, Irena’s own children struggled with developmental delays, learning differences, severe depression, and anxiety. She kept her double life—successful college counselor at work, anxious mom at home—tightly under wraps for years until a stunning realization: she was exactly like the anxious parents of the students she worked with, all of whom were equally terrified about their children’s future. Irena’s memoir, The Golden Ticket: A Life in College Admissions Essays, which candidly explores her personal as well as professional life, was published in 2023, and she has since devoted her time to speaking out about hard things: the heavy burden of generational expectations, teen and young adult mental health, and the importance of embracing a broader, more generous vision of what it means to succeed. To learn more about Irena’s personal experience as a parent, professional experience as a college admissions officer, and leave with tips on how to help your child approach the application process in practical, healthy ways–register now!
An Exploration of Friendship, Reckoning, and Hope with novelist Shelby Van Pelt
Wednesday, August 21st at 7:00 PM EDT
We invite you to join us as we chat with the amazing New York Times bestselling author Shelby Van Pelt about her beloved novel Remarkably Bright Creatures. You don’t want to miss this deep-dive exploration of friendship, reckoning, hope, and so much more!
Remarkably Bright Creatures is a luminous debut novel about a widow’s unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium—and the truths she finally uncovers about her son’s disappearance 30 years ago.
After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in the Puget Sound over 30 years ago.
As she works, Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine, but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight tentacles for his human captors—until he forms an unlikely friendship with Tova.
Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. As his affection for Tova grows, Marcellus must use every trick his old, invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.
Charming, compulsively readable, and full of wit, Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel is a beautiful exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope–a reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible. Register now for a conversation you just don’t want to miss!
Capturing the Human Drama Through History with Garrett Graff
Tuesday, September 10th at 2:00 PM EDT
Don’t forget to register for this incredibly moving virtual chat with New York Times bestselling author Garrett Graff! An expert at capturing the human drama, Graff will speak about his body of work with particular focus on his oral histories, The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 and When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day.
Much has been written and said about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the profound impact they had on America and the world. But those names, stories, and memories have never before been collected in one place to tell the full, 360-degree story of what happened that day, and in the days after. In The Only Plane in the Sky, award-winning journalist Garrett Graff draws on never-before-published transcripts, recently declassified documents, and original interviews and stories from nearly five hundred government officials, first responders, witnesses, survivors, friends, and family members to paint the most comprehensive, minute-by-minute account of the September 11 attacks yet, all told in the words of those who experienced that dramatic and tragic day.
In his most recent work, When the Sea Came Alive, Graff explores the full impact of a world changing event: D-Day, one of history’s greatest and most unbelievable military and human triumphs. Though the full campaign lasted just over a month, the surprise landing of over 150,000 Allied troops on the morning of June 6, 1944, is understood to be the moment that turned the tide for the Allied forces and ultimately led to the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II. This book dives deep into the complexities—from the secret creation of landing plans by top government and military officials and organization of troops, to the moment the boat doors opened to reveal the beach where men fought for their lives and the future of the free world.
Graff’s work, filled with impressive detail, captures a human drama and history like no other. Register today!
Living with an Expansive Mind in a Distracted World–with Nate Klemp, PhD
Wednesday, September 18th at 2:00 PM EDT
Join us as New York Times bestselling author and philosopher Nate Klemp helps us explore pathways back to openminded living when he talks to us about the core tenets in his new book Open: Living with an Expansive Mind in a Distracted World.
With the avalanche of information we get every day, closing down our minds and hearts seems to be the only way to survive. We close off to ourselves by compulsively checking our devices. We close to each other by getting caught in echo chambers of outrage. But what if there’s another way? In this climate of distraction and division, Nate Klemp’s Open offers a path back to a way of living that is expansive, creative, and filled with wonder.
Drawing on personal stories, scientific findings, and traditional wisdom, Klemp explores why we close down when faced with stressors or threats―then reveals why training ourselves to fully engage even with discomfort, pain, and sadness leads to greater well-being in the long run.
A Deep Dive in Character Development with Global Sensation Liane Moriarty
Saturday, September 21st at 7:00 PM EDT
If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate? If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny? Join us as we chat with mega-bestselling author Liane Moriarty about her newest novel Here One Moment. Moriarty’s Here One Moment is a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintain certainty and control in an uncertain world.
In Here One Moment, aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed. Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.
How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.” Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.
A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.
A modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery, Moriarty asks profound questions in her newest I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel. Be sure to register now!
AgawamPublicLibrary
AgawamPublicLibrary
